A Step into Oblivion
by shadowspinner1
Summary: Death is a grim business. We live and we die, some just go sooner that others. Even those who cling to life move on eventually.


Raditz: Aren't you working on another story. SS: Yes, but I needed to write this down. The Queen told me to, and I must obey my beta and Queen.  
Raditz: Really. Rolls eyes  
SS: Yes. I don't own Danny Phantom, but I own all else. Raditz is from DBZ, but I stole him from Hell, and hid the big luge in my closet. Raditz: Help me! She's insane!  
SS: No one is going to help you.  
Raditz: I wanna go back to hell, we had TV there.  
SS: And on with the one-shot. Prepare for tears.

Danny didn't look well. Even Dash the school bully noticed. It was like he was a ghost. Dash had decided to refrain from picking on him due to pale look about him. It was like he was fading. Even in a town with ghost attacks every day, it was creepy.

Dash hoped he would be alright. Even though he picked on him mercilessly, he had a soft spot for the kid. And respect. Even though Danny's parents were crazed ghost hunters, he always seemed to be smiling, living life to the fullest. There was even a time when he rounded up a bunch of kids to fight off some pirate ghosts and get their parents back. 

Some times Dash wondered about that brilliant cunning that Danny had. In many ways it was like the Ghost kid, Danny Phantom. They were so much alike, it was almost like they were one person. If fact, Dash though that they were. There was that incident where Phantom and himself had been shrunk down to the size of insects. Phantom had been slowly losing his powers, and his clothes looked like Fenton's. And the excuses. Phantom's reaction to his jib toward Fenton almost proved it. 

There he went, smiling and laughing with his friends, trying to make it look like he wasn't feeling as bad as he obviously did. Dash felt a sense of foreboding as the boy swayed. He walked over to the trio and caught the smaller boy just before he fell.

---

Danny woke up in the hospital. He listened to the slow beep of the monitors and shifted uncomfortably under the oxygen mask. He knew why he was here. It was only a matter of time before he ended up here. Up till now he was living on borrowed time. 

It had started with the accident a little over a year ago. The ghost powers were far more predominant at the time. But late in the night, he felt himself slipping away. That feeling had increased over time. For all of his new found power, he couldn't stop the deterioration of his human body. 

His mother walked in with tears in her eyes. He knew that she was blaming herself. What she didn't know was that he knew this was coming. "Oh Danny, you're awake." she tried to hide the tears he knew she cried behind a smile. "The doctor says that you should be fine. He's running a few more tests though."

For a brief moment he wanted to tell her everything. How the accident gave him ghost powers, and how he was Danny Phantom, the bane that she and his father had hunted for so long. But no, he couldn't, that would only make her feel worse. It would be better that she never knew, that no one ever knew. He wanted to be remembered as normal, as just your average teenage kid. 

Still, he had to tell her how much he loved her, how much he loved everyone. His family, Tucker, his best friend since childhood, Valerie, his newfound friend in a ghost hunter who hated his other half, and Sam, that beautiful young women who assured him that being unique is good and put faith in him when he had lost it in himself.

He tried to take off the mask, his hands weak from exhaustion. "Danny don't, save you strength. You need to get better." Danny knew he wouldn't, it was far too late for that. Yet he obeyed his mother anyway. Weakly he smiled at her. He mouthed it any way, three simple words that meant the world to him.

She smiled back at him, knowing what he wanted to say. "I love you too, Danny. Jazz and your father will be by soon. Your friends will be here after school. They are worried about you." She kissed him on the forehead. "I'll go get you something to eat."

-  
As Maddie closed the door behind her, she felt another tear run down her face. Her son, her little boy laid just on the other side, barely strong enough to breath. The doctor said that he had high amounts of ectoplasma in his blood, far too high. It was a miracle that he was still alive. 

His body was breaking apart, and there was nothing anyone could do. It penetrated too deep, into his very being. She wondered briefly if, if he would fade into a ghost, or simply fall into oblivion. She didn't know what caused this; it could be a hundred things. He was constantly exposed to ectoplasma. Not as much as Jack and herself, but obviously far more than was healthy. 

She wished she could go back in time and beat her self in the head. The signs were there, the lack of sleep, the falling grades. He knew something was wrong with him and hid it. If he had said something, maybe something could have been done.

Now he would pay the price of her stupidity. When they found out about his condition she had the family and Sam and Tucker all checked out. They all cleared with very little ectoplasma. 

Speaking of the two, there they were. Sam had a worried look and Tucker had his face buried in his PDA. She smiled knowing that it was just Tucker's way of coping. 

"Mrs. Fenton, we're just going to visit Danny." Sam said a little nervous. Maddie could understand, their best friend was sick, and dieing. It was probably a scary experience for both of them. 

"He's awake, so don't let him get too worked up. I'm going to get him something to eat." They nodded, a little uncomfortable. She would take a little extra time, so they could be alone with him.

---

Sam nearly cried when she first saw him. He was so pale; it was like he wasn't there. She could almost see the pillow behind him. Tucker buried himself further into his PDA. She knew that Danny was his best friend. Danny accepted them even though they were outcasts, freaks even. And in return they accepted him when he turned into the bigger freak.

She hated death; more than anything and now her best friend, and Amity's protector was on the brink of it. Danny reached up to his mask, one of the life lines that keep him in this world. Tubes and wires where attached everywhere. She helped him pulled of the mask, knowing he couldn't talk with it on. 

"Thanks for coming guys. Amazing bravery Tuck." His voice was weak, but held all of his usual cheerfulness.

"I'm not in a hospital; I'm in a modeling agency." Tucker said. Any other time she would have laughed at him and his fear of hospitals. But today, might be Danny's last. 

"Why didn't you tell us that you were feeling sick, we only asked you like fifty times." Sam asked in irritation. "We could have helped you."

"Sam, it was too late to do anything the moment I stepped into the portal. I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier. I never though that I would go down hill this fast."

"You knew? How could you not tell us!"

"I didn't want you guys to worry. If I had said something, you wouldn't have let me fight, and you would have treated me differently. I wanted a shot at life, living on borrowed time as I was. And I want the same for you."

She didn't cry, Goths don't cry. He was right, they would have treated him differently, it was like her hiding her wealth. He didn't want a pity-party, he wanted friends for who he was, not his condition. "I understand. Danny I, I …" She couldn't say it, it wouldn't work out anyway.

"Tucker you're the best friend a guy could have, you even overcame your fears when I was in trouble, just to help me out. Sam I love you, I just couldn't say it before."

"Danny I've loved you for a long time, I just couldn't say it. If I had known.."

"Hush Sam no regrets. I don't have any. I want you two to live out the rest of your lives too. Tucker I need you to take care of her, Valerie and Jazz too. You guys are the best friends I could have had, and I need you to protect Amity Park now that I'm going to be gone."

Sam sighed, "Danny, if we tell your parents.."

"I don't have much longer left, besides they can't help me anyway. I don't want them to know, ever. It would cause more pain than it's worth. I've done what I need to here." He closed his eyes, breathing heavily. Sam knew that he was right, his time was nearly up. He might fade away by morning. 

"Danny I love you, but you're right. I promise to take your secret to the grave if I have too."

Tucker spoke up beside her, hand in salute, "I am ready to take command of the Phantom project. Objective, keep Amity Park safe at all costs; secondary objectives take care of friends and family. I will do my best sir."

Sad laughter echoed through the halls of Amity Park's hospital.

---

Visiting hours were over, but that didn't stop him. Being able to walk though walls had its advantages. That was just one of the powers he gained during the day Jack Fenton ruined his life. 

He had hated Jack Fenton from that day forward. It wasn't for a few years that he fully realized what that had done to him. He was fading. Nothing that he did could stop it. He had searched high and low, and even in the depths of the ghost zone, but he was unable to find anything to make him better. That didn't mean he couldn't slow it down. The fact that it was only the face kept him from fading as fast.

The boy lay in the hospital bed. Vlad hated hospitals. After the years treating his etco acne, he wasn't pleased with so much as setting foot in them. It was a terrible place to die. All the chemicals, the tubes and monitors, they weren't needed, death was inevitable anyway.

The boy stirred and opened his eyes, the full moon reflecting off of them. In her full light she gave him a radiance that he had lost during the day. The mother moon many ghosts called her. She held many hands through death, far more gently than the sun. She understood what it was like to be a reflection, as she was dependent on Sol for her own glow.

"Ah, Daniel, still have some life in you I see." He walked over, now human and sat by him as he struggled with the face mask. "Here let me help you with that. No need for such restrains anyway."

"What do you want Plasmas, come to flaunt your power over me? To ramble on about how you can now kill my father." Vlad almost laughed at his spirit. A faded reflection it may be, but like mother moon, he had his own quiet strength.

"No you are dying, just as I am. Nothing anyone does will help either of us."

"You're still standing." a faint glow, the last of his power in his eyes.

"I've had many spells placed on me to keep me from slipping over the edge, they will keep me here for many more years, as long as I constantly have them replaced, but at a price." Vlad knew that price, he may have had power, but only blood would pay it. Soon only human blood would sustain him, and it wasn't worth it. He refused to stain his hands with a human life for his own. 

"A price you're willing to pay."

Vlad smiled, but not a nice one. "Not anymore."

"Why not?" a gasp, he was weakening, it wouldn't be much longer now. Vlad knew that if he was going to ask his question it would have to be soon, but still, he wanted a little longer.

"Death is a grim business Daniel. We live and we die, some just go sooner that others. Even those who cling to life move on eventually."

Danny nodded, and Vlad knew that he understood. Being half dead for as long as he had, he had to. "So then why are you here?"

Vlad closed his eyes savoring his last seconds before.. "I want to go with you."

He heard the boy choke, and opened his eye to see his expression. "Wh-what?" He stuttered out. Vlad couldn't help but chuckle in amusement.

"Like I said, the price is too high, but I don't want to go alone. Since you're fading fast, I thought maybe I would go with you." 

He watched as the boy pondered over it, rolling it around in his mind. A calm, almost serine look crossed his face. Nothing was said for a long moment, and Vlad knew better than to interrupt the younger boy in his thinking. For one so young he was very old.

"Alright, I suspect your affairs are in order. Then we can leave tonight." Vlad didn't realize how tense he had gotten until relief flooded him at those words. 

"Yes, but not here. I hate hospitals, and this would be a miserable place to die." Vlad frowned and fingered his jacket. "I'll phase the junk out of you."

---

The last flight was a good one, even if he could no longer support himself. Despite the fights that he and Vlad had, he was glad that he was coming with him. 

He flashed back to that time ten years in the future. That empty shell that Vlad had become, and how sad he had been. Yes Danny knew that Vlad could last much longer if he wanted, but now he realized how lonely he must be.

The full moon shoned down upon his city, brightening the lights, the lives he had protected. Many times he had been one of those lights, but soon his would go out forever.

He felt dizzy as Vlad finished his silent flight and landed on a hill, overlooking the city. A cloud floated by darkening the world for a moment.

"Will this due?" Vlad's voice was slightly rough, whether from anticipation or fear he couldn't tell. 

"It's beautiful." Danny said, looking down at the water as the cloud moved away from the moon and reflected off the water.

"All things must come to end." The sadness washed though the older hybrid's voice.

"I know, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it while it lasts." Danny heard his voice falter, but he didn't care. He wasn't in pain, just faded.

"I suppose not. Are you ready?" Vlad replied. Darkness once again started to fall. This time it was from the earth's shadow. Soon the earth would take away the refection of the moon. Danny even then, felt himself slipping.

The only strength he had now was put into a nod.

The earth over took the moon's light and in the blink of the moon they stepped into oblivion, leaving behind everything of the world.

The next morning the sun found Amity Park missing her protector, and in its place two sets of clothes laying side by side, and a note asking for the billionaire's money to go the remains of the lives never lived…. 


End file.
